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(IAAC) Obj: M101 (UMa Pinwheel) - Inst: 7x50 binoculars
Observer: Lew Gramer
Your skills: Intermediate
Date and UT of Observation: 1997-07-4/5, 03:15 UT
Location: Savoy, MA, USA (42N, elev 700m)
Site classification: rural
Limiting magnitude: 7.1 (zenith)
Seeing: 4 of 10 - medium good, intermittent cumulus
Moon up: no
Instrument: 50mm Simmons binoculars
Magnification: 7x
Filters used: None
Object: M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major)
Category: Spiral galaxy (face on)
Constellation: UMa
Data: mag 7.7 size 29'x26' (catalog)
RA/DE: 14h03m +54o21m
Description:
Found with difficulty even in averted vision, M101 appeared
in binoculars as a faint, HUGE (30') haze, lying just off the
end of a chain of 7 stars mags. 6 - 7, which straggle ESE of
the pretty naked-eye optical pair Mizar and Alcor. M101 can
also be found about 1.5 binoc fields NNE of eta UMa. No hint
of detail could be seen in M101, not even any stellarings in
its indistinct face, but the field of view was striking!